Gender relations and professional ghetto: a study with female drivers from urban mobility applications

Abstract

Taking into account the context of the shared economy, this research aims to understand how female drivers from urban mobility applications perceive gender relations in their professional activity, being recognized as the “type of work for men”. The research is qualitative and descriptive; therefore, a case study was conducted with female drivers from urban mobility applications. Eleven semi-structured interviews were carried out using the “snowball” technique. The results indicate that the job of an application driver is not seen as belonging to a professional ghetto, but it seems that there is a male predominance in the activity. The social and cultural reflex was evident in the interviews' discourse, to understand the construction of meanings in the gender relation as a primary power relation. It was also observed that the context of the shared economy may favor the greater participation of women in the labor market, especially in those activities considered as from professional male ghettos. Moreover, it is necessary to discuss more the subject, since the complexity and the lack of women in certain types of work is due to their subjective exclusion in a patriarchal system.

Keywords

• economia compartilhada
• guetos profissionais
• aplicativos de mobilidade urbana
• relações de gênero